Water-cask and life-boat



ENTTED STATES PATENT oEEioE..

WILLIAM N. CLARK, OE CHESTER, CONNECTICUT.

WATER-CASI( AND LIFE-BOAT.

Specification o f Letters Patent No. 23,824, dated May 3, 1859*.

To all whom 'it may concer/n.:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM N. CLARK, of Chester, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and Improved Life-Boat and Tater-Cask; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention consists in a peculiar construction of water-Cask and life-boat, which may be used, under ordinary circumstances, as a water cask, and in emergencies as a lifeboat.

The accompanying drawing represents a side view of my invention.

The water cask or boat A may be about six feet long and four feet in diameter. It is not symmetrical but somewhat eccentric, the lower staves being more curved than those near the top of the cask, so as to give it the bearings of a boat and greater steadiness in the water. v

In the top of the cask is a hinged hatch B, which is closed by a common spring latch, having a thumb piece t. When the hatch is closed, the boat is lighted by bullseye lights E. l

Near the bottom of the boat is a ballast floor or deck Gr, made of galvanized cast iron. `When the cask is to be used as a life boat, the space below floor G, may be left filled with water for the use of the passengers; the water may be drawn through an orifice closed by plug H. Upon the heads and sides of the Cask are several rings, I, K, for attachment in lowering the boat from the ship. The sides are also provided with ropes F and buoys C, to which persons may cling and thus escape drowning.`

This construction of boat is less likely to be stove than common boats, either in launching or when driven upon a rocky shore. During the launching the hatch may be closed and fastened, and when the boat has obtained its bearings in the water and is clear of the ship, then the hatch can be opened from the inside to admit air.

The form of this life-boat will protect passengers from storms and from the heat of the sun, so that ladies and children may be made comfortable in this boat during weather in which they might perish in ordinary boats.

In case of a vessel being driven aground in a heavy surf, my boat could be sent ashore safely with a line when no open boat could live.

Mails, gold or other treasure could be packed in my boats and sent adrift and thus saved from fire or from going down with the vessel.

As my boats generally serve as water casks, there is no loss of the room they occupy as life boats. Moreover my boats are always tight, because they contain water, while common boats are often dry and leaky so as to be unt for use in a sudden emergency.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. I claim making the staves upon the lower side of the water-cask more curved than those are upon the upper side, in order to give the life-boat a proper bearing and greater stability in the water, substantially as described.

2. I claim the ballast floor G, water tank and hatch when they are used in connection with the water cask and life boat substantially as set forth.

SOCRATES DENIsoN, EDWARD P. TIERNAN. 

